Drumrolllllllll….. 🥁 Our first mammal patient of the year came in Tuesday— can you guess what it is? Spoilers below! It’s a free-tailed bat! 🦇 Free-tailed bats are common in North Carolina during spring and fall, but typically migrate to Central or South America during the colder months. For that reason, finding a bat around this time of year means you should call your local wildlife rehab centers because they are probably lacking the nutrients they usually get from flying insects that are no longer active in the Appalachias right now! Free-tailed bats get the name due to their tails that extend past the typical tail membrane, which connects the tail to its hind legs. These bats are known for being extremely fast flying creatures and also use echolocation to jam the attempts of other bats looking for prey, increasing their chances of catching those pesty insects that may be bothering you in our summers! So remember, if you find a bat when it’s cold outside, help them out! Call a professional in your area to humanely reap them and make sure they are taken care of so you can enjoy a pest-free year when you’re enjoying the beautiful nature that WNC provides! 🦇
#appalachia #batsoftiktok #bats #freetailedbat #wildliferescue #wildliferehab #batsignal #wildlife #northcarolina #asheville #wildanimals #battok